Mary Ann Scheuer

The core of the story takes place in Kolkata, India as three teens travel to spend the summer helping an organization supporting survivors of human trafficking. In Boston, Kat meets Robin (Ravi) Thornton, who's struggling with his own past. The second half of the novel takes place in Kolkata, as Ravi, Kat and Gracie, Ravi's long-time best friend, work to support survivors of human trafficking. Perkins explores heavy, important issues of identity, trauma, international adoption and human trafficking, yet the characters' journeys and growth remain central.

As part of the blog tour celebrating her new book, Laura was kind enough to share about her writing process with me. I might write individual poems on napkins or my phone, but with a big project like a poetry collection, I do less of that. For example, for a draft of a project I'm currently working on, I wrote in my journal:Those are all just synonyms, but I often make lists of specifically juicy words I come across in my research that I think,: Our students and teachers use a word wall. I love walking while I write, so this is my writing space:: I love the way stuffed animals come to life in this!

Listening to young women is essential; I especially find women's memoirs powerful when they share about their teenage years. In her powerful new memoir, award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson shares her experience as a survivor of rape and advocate for women's rights, but she goes far beyond this, plumbing the impact of her father's PTSD, her mother's silence, and the rape culture that surrounds us. Twenty years ago, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak helped give survivors of sexual violence a voice, showing how Melinda coped with the trauma of her rape the summer before her freshman year. Writing in free verse, Anderson explores the impact of her father's PTSD from WWII and her mother's silence in a household filled with alcohol-fueled tension.

When our students study California history, we must bring to light the stories of African Americans who helped shape our state.is a terrific addition to help children learn about an influential African American woman in Los Angeles's early history. Free verse poems, which enable readers to feel that they are getting to know Biddy in a personal way, are interspersed with historical information on slavery and midwifery, plantation life and economy, migration, the struggle for freedom, and life as a free black person."The record we call 'history' does not tell everyone's story." They write in the introduction:Very little is recorded about Biddy's early years, and so the authors "had to imagine this time in Biddy's life using historical research, 'slave narratives' (written accounts by enslaved people after escaping slavery), and audio interviews with people who lived during the same period and in similar regions. I wonder if young students will realize that the scenes in the free verse poems did not necessarily occur, or that the authors created the character of Granny Ellen.